Piloted valve, particularly proportional throttle valve

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a piloted valve, particularly a piloted proportional throttle valve, having a valve piston ( 29 ) displaceably guided in the longitudinal direction in a valve housing ( 13 ) having a fluid inlet ( 2 ) and outlet ( 1 ), the front side ( 27 ) whereof can be pressurized against a main valve seat ( 25 ) by fluid pressure acting on the back side thereof, having a pilot valve device comprising an actuating member ( 7 ) displaceable in the longitudinal direction by means of an electrically actuatable magnet system ( 4 ), working together with a pilot valve seat ( 37 ) in a bore ( 17 ) of the valve piston ( 29 ) connecting the back side thereof to the fluid outlet ( 1 ) on the front side of the piston, in order to reduce the fluid pressure on the back side of the piston ( 29 ) for an opening motion when the pilot valve seat ( 33 ) is released, a flow baffle device ( 39 ) being disposed between the back side of the piston and the fluid inlet ( 2 ) of the housing ( 13 ) for building up the fluid pressure pressurizing the piston ( 29 ) against the closed position thereof by introducing pilot fluid, characterized in that the flow baffle device ( 39 ) comprises a device for performing filtration, preferably gap filtration, of the pilot fluid.

The invention relates to a piloted valve, particularly a piloted proportional throttle valve, with a valve piston which is guided to be able to move in a valve housing with a fluid inlet and fluid outlet in the longitudinal direction and which can be pressurized by the fluid pressure active on its back with its front against a main valve seat, with a pilot valve device which has an actuating member that can be moved in the longitudinal direction by means of an electrically triggerable magnet system and that interacts with the pilot valve seat in a bore of the valve piston which connects its back to the fluid outlet on the front of the piston in order to reduce the fluid pressure on the back of the piston for an opening motion when the pilot valve seat is cleared. To build up the fluid pressure pressurizing the piston against its closed position by supply of pilot fluid, a flow baffle device is present between the back of the piston and the fluid inlet of the housing.

Proportional throttle valves are generally used in fluid systems for controlling volumetric flows. In this connection, directly controlled valves in which a proportional magnet system acts directly on the control piston, as in a switching directional control valve, have proven less suited in those cases in which large volumetric flows, especially at high differential pressures, must be controlled, because flow forces which may arise superimpose themselves on the actuating forces of the magnet system and thus lead to malfunctions.

To remedy this, it is state of the art to use valves of the initially indicated type for these applications, i.e., those proportional throttle valves which have hydraulic piloting. As has been shown, however, when using these valves, problems arise with respect to operating behavior. Although mechanical decoupling of the valve piston from the magnet system helps to reduce instabilities, because the valve piston is moved solely by fluid pressure, the precision and reliability of operation depend largely on the state of the flow baffle device of the pilot system. In use in a fluid system in which the fluid is not free of fouling, clogging of the baffle bore of the baffle device would lead to uncontrolled opening of the valve; this entails a safety hazard. To prevent this danger, the baffle bore is typically made relatively large, with a diameter of more than 0.5 mm. Since the diameter of the pilot valve seat must be chosen to be larger than the diameter of the baffle bore to perform the valve function, several problems arise. One major disadvantage is that large diameters of the baffle bore and pilot valve seat lead to a large pilot volumetric flow. For correspondingly large pressure differences, this volumetric flow can be several liters/min. Precision control of the valve is not possible in this volumetric flow range.

The differential pressure prevailing on the pilot valve seat on the valve cone of the actuating member, which cone interacts with the valve seat, produces a resulting force that seeks to keep the valve cone in the closed position. In particular, at high differential pressures a relatively large dead flow is thus necessary to raise the actuating member off the pilot valve seat. After the pilot valve seat is cleared, a rapid pressure drop occurs on the back of the piston; this greatly reduces the force acting on the actuating element. In the presence of a large magnetic force that remains unchanged, however, an excess of force of the magnet system arises. It acts against the force of a spring arrangement which conventionally pressurizes the actuating element against the pilot valve seat, as a result of which an opening motion of the valve piston takes place with undesired suddenness.

With respect to these problems, the object of the invention is to make available a piloted valve, particularly a proportional throttle valve, which is characterized by especially good and reliable operating behavior with a simple structure.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a valve having the features of claim 1 in its entirety.

In that, as specified in the characterizing part of claim 1, according to the invention, measures for filtration, preferably for gap filtration of the pilot fluid, are provided, the aforementioned difficulties can be avoided. Avoiding the risk of fouling of the baffle device allows the diameter of the baffle bore and pilot valve seat to be made much smaller compared to the prior art. The resulting reduction of the pilot volumetric flow enables precision control of the valve even in the case of high pressure differences and in the range of small fluid volumetric flows to be controlled. Moreover, the reduction of the diameter of the pilot valve seat promotes stable operating behavior when the valve cone of the actuating element is lifted off the pilot valve seat because sudden movements in the opening process are avoided, thus promoting precision control.

Special advantages arise when there is gap filtration of the pilot fluid. For a corresponding gap length the gap width, compared to the opening cross section of the pertinent baffle bore, can be chosen to be small enough, such that extremely fine dirt particles are reliably retained, but as a result of the gap length the required flow cross section is available for passage of the pilot fluid.

In especially advantageous exemplary embodiments, the flow baffle device is inserted into a pilot channel which extends with the channel axis which runs radially to the longitudinal axis in the wall of the valve housing between the inner channel mouth, which is fluid-connected to the back of the valve piston, and an outer channel mouth, which is connected to the fluid inlet. This construction makes it possible to integrate a device for gap filtration in the pilot channel directly into the valve housing.

In this case, the arrangement can advantageously be made such that the pilot channel is formed by a round channel bore in which the baffle device is held in the form of a round insert body. It can be configured such that it both performs the baffle function and also forms the gap filtration component.

In this case, the arrangement can be made such that the insert body has a plug section which faces the inner channel mouth and which sits appropriately in the channel bore, and an outer section which in comparison is reduced in diameter, and on which a baffle bore and a gap filter device are made.

In an especially advantageous and simple construction, in the plug section there is a coaxial blind hole which runs away from the inner channel mouth into the outer section, the baffle bore in the direction which is radial to the channel axis running between the blind hole and the outside of the outer section of the insert body, which section has a reduced diameter.

With an insert body configured in this way, the gap filtration device can be implemented especially easily in that the diameter of the outer section of the insert body is stepped such that a first region of length into which the baffle bore discharges has a smaller diameter than the region of length which follows to the outside, which diameter is chosen such that an annular gap for gap filtration of the pilot fluid is formed with the wall of the pilot channel. The length of the annular gap thus corresponds to the entire peripheral length of the insert body or the length of the inner periphery of the pilot channel; this makes it possible to choose the gap width to be small enough even for fine dirt particles to be reliably retained.

An especially large reduction of the effective baffle opening size and thus of the pilot volume flow can be achieved when a second baffle bore is connected downstream of the baffle bore which is located in the insert body of the pilot channel.

In one alternative exemplary embodiment which is characterized by an especially simple construction, there is a flow baffle device in the pilot channel which extends with a channel axis which runs radially to the longitudinal axis in the wall of the valve piston from its inner bore to a peripheral section of the valve piston, which section has been reduced in diameter, there being a device for filtration of the pilot fluid on an outside edge region of the peripheral section which has been reduced in diameter.

In this design an annular gap which extends over the entire peripheral length of the valve piston for gap filtration of the pilot fluid can be made in an especially simple manner, by virtue of the fact that the valve piston in the peripheral region which extends between the edge of the peripheral section which has been reduced in diameter, which edge is adjacent to the front, and a section which is connected to the fluid inlet in the closed position, has an outside diameter which is chosen such that an annular gap for gap filtration is formed with the wall of the valve housing.

The valve according to the invention can be made as a version which is closed when de-energized, with there being a magnet system which attracts when energized. In this case, the arrangement can be made such that the actuating element is pressurized by means of an energy storage, preferably a spring arrangement, for movement which blocks the pilot valve seat when the magnet system is de-energized, and can be pulled back from the pilot valve seat when the magnet system is energized. Alternatively, the valve can also be made as a version which is open when de-energized (with a thrusting magnet system).

In this specification, the invention is explained using the example of a piloted proportional throttle valve, because the reduction of the opening sizes of the pilot baffle bore(s) and pilot valve seat that is enabled according to the invention is especially advantageous for throttle valves with respect to stable control behavior. But the use of a baffle device according to the invention with an integrated gap filter device, optionally in conjunction with a series connection of baffle bores, is generally also suitable for piloted valves of another design, in which a reduction of the amount of pilot fluid is desired, without increasing the risk of fouling. Here, examples can be piloted pressure limitation and pressure control valves.

The invention is detailed below using the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section of a piloted proportional throttle valve in a seat version according to the state of the art;

FIG. 2 shows an extract of the region designated as II in FIG. 1, greatly enlarged relative to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal section of one exemplary embodiment of the proportional throttle valve according to the invention, drawn detached and slightly enlarged relative to FIG. 1, viewed in the direction of looking at the figure the hydraulic switching symbol for the valve according to the invention being shown at top left;

FIG. 4 shows an extract of the region designated as IV in FIG. 3, greatly enlarged compared to FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a longitudinal section which corresponds essentially to FIG. 3, but illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the proportional throttle valve according to the invention which has been modified relative thereto; and

FIG. 6 shows an extract of the region designated as VI in FIG. 5, greatly enlarged relative to FIG. 5.

The known piloted proportional throttle valve in a seat execution as shown in FIG. 1 is provided with an electrically triggerable magnet system 4. These magnet systems for triggering valves are relatively well known in the prior art (DE 44 16 279 A1), where a magnetic armature 5 can be triggered by means of an actuating coil 3 of the magnet system 4. In the illustrated embodiment the magnet system 4 is made as a so-called pulling, opened proportional magnet, which in the energized state moves the magnet armature 5 and thus an actuating element 7 which is connected to the latter from bottom to top, viewed in the direction of looking at FIG. 1. In the de-energized state the armature 5 and thus the actuating element 7 are set back downward by means of an energy storage device formed by a compression spring 9; i.e., it is set into an axial position with respect to the longitudinal axis 11 which corresponds to the closed state of the throttle valve.

The housing of the magnet system 4 is connected to the valve housing 13 with the formation of a seal; the actuating member 7 extends in the continuous bore 17 of the housing which is concentric to the longitudinal axis 11; the tapering end of the member forms a pilot valve cone 15. The bore 17 in the valve housing 13 is stepped. A step 19 which is adjacent to the magnet system 4 forms the support for the spring 9 whose other end is supported on the collar 21 of the actuating member 7. In the vicinity of the exit end 23 of the valve housing 13 on which the fluid outlet of the valve designated as port 1 is located, a main valve seat 25 is formed which interacts with the precision control surface 27 on the end of a valve piston 29 which acts as a main valve body. The valve piston 29 is guided to be able to move peripherally in the longitudinal direction in the section of the housing bore 17 which, viewed in FIG. 1, adjoins the fluid inlet at the top; the inlet is designated as port 2. The valve piston 29 for its part has an inner bore 31 which is concentric to the longitudinal axis 11 and which tapers at a distance from the end facing the port 1 to form a pilot valve seat 33, which, as is best illustrated in FIG. 2, interacts with the pilot valve cone 15 on the end of the actuating member 7. As is likewise most clearly illustrated in this figure, proceeding from the fluid port 2, a baffle bore 35 extends in the valve piston 29 into its inner bore 31, allowing a fluid pressure on the back of the valve piston 29 to build up from the fluid port 2, which pressure pressurizes the valve piston 29 in FIG. 1 down into the closed position in which its control surface 27 adjoins the main valve seat 25, closing it.

In the section located above the pilot valve seat 33 in FIG. 1, the inner bore 31 forms a guide section 32 which is used as a slide guide for a guide body 37 of the actuating member 7, which body has guide edges.

The pressure build-up on the back of the valve piston 29 by the fluid which enters the inner bore 31 of the valve piston 29 from the port 2 by way of the baffle bore 35 keeps the valve piston 29 in its closed position. If the actuating member 7 is retracted by energising the magnet system 4 so that the valve cone 15 is raised off the pilot valve seat 33, on the back of the piston a pressure drop occurs so that the fluid pressure acting on the valve piston 29 from the port 2 causes an opening motion of the piston 29 and thus fluid exit at the port 1; here, the pilot fluid flow, which results from the dimensioning of the baffle bore 35 and of the pilot valve seat 33, is superimposed on this fluid flow.

The exemplary embodiment of the valve according to the invention that is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 differs from FIGS. 1 and 2 especially in that, in place of the baffle bore 35 which extends directly through the wall of the piston 29 from the port 2 into the inner bore 31 of the piston 29, there is a flow baffle device 39 which is installed in a pilot channel 41 which extends with a channel axis 43 which runs radially to the longitudinal axis 11 within the wall of the valve housing 13. Reference is made to FIG. 4 for details of this baffle device 39. The baffle device 39, more specifically, is a combined baffle and filter device. It has a round insert body 45 whose inner plug section 47 facing the inner mouth of the pilot channel 41 is held appropriately in the round pilot channel 41. This inner plug section 47 is adjoined by an outer section 49 which has a smaller outside diameter compared to the plug section 47, this outside diameter being stepped. From the end of the plug section 47, a blind hole 51 which is concentric to the channel axis 43 extends as far as the outer section 49.

From the region of the base of the blind hole 51, the baffle bore 35, running radially to the axis 43, extends to the stepped outside periphery of the outer section 49 which is reduced in diameter. This section, as mentioned above, is stepped. More accurately, the outer mouth of the baffle bore 35 is adjoined by an end section 53 which is again increased in diameter, whose diameter is chosen such that with the wall of the pilot channel 41, a fine annular gap 55 is formed which acts as a gap filter via which pilot fluid can travel to the baffle bore 35 from the port 2. Here the gap width of the annular gap 55 is chosen such that even fine dirt particles are retained. Since the length of the annular gap 55, however, corresponds to the entire peripheral length of the outer end section 53 and of the inner periphery of the pilot channel 41, particle settling on a fraction of the length of the annular gap does not lead to clogging of the fluid passage. Even for an opening size of the baffle bore 35 that is dimensioned to be very small, fail safe operation is ensured.

For especially advantageous exemplary embodiments, in a similar positional arrangement, as is the case in the baffle bore 35 which is conventional in the prior art, in the valve piston 29 itself there is an additional, second baffle bore 57, which is connected downstream of the baffle bore 35 in the baffle device 39. This additional baffle bore 57 is located in a peripheral section 59 of the valve piston 29, which section is reduced in diameter and connects this peripheral section 59 to the inner bore 31 in the valve piston 29. The axial position of the peripheral section 59 is chosen such that, with the axial positions of the valve piston 29 which occur in operation, the downstream second baffle bore 57 is aligned to the inner channel mouth of the pilot channel 41.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a modified exemplary embodiment in which the pilot channel 41 extends in a direction which runs radially to the longitudinal axis 11 exclusively through the wall of the valve piston 29 to the wall 44 of the valve housing 13. In the end region which adjoins the inner bore 31, the pilot channel 41 forms the baffle bore 35. In its radially outer region the pilot channel 41 undergoes transition into a peripheral section 46 of the valve piston 29 which is reduced in diameter. Between the peripheral section 46 which forms an annulus with the wall 44 of the valve housing 13 and the peripheral section 48 (FIG. 6) of the valve piston 29 which is connected to the fluid inlet 2, the piston diameter is chosen such that with the wall 44 of the valve housing 13 an annular gap 56 (see FIG. 6) is created which forms the device for gap filtration of the pilot fluid. According to the peripheral length of the valve piston 29 and the resulting length of the annular gap 56, it can be made so narrow that even extremely small dirt particles are reliably retained.

The use of a flow baffle device 39 provided according to the invention in the form of a combined baffle and gap filter device for the smallest possible sizes of the baffle opening ensures fail safe operation and optimal operating behavior even at high pressure differences and small fluid volumetric flows, with especially good conditions being achieved particularly when an additional second baffle opening 57 is connected downstream of the baffle bore 35 of the baffle device 39.

The valve according to the invention can be used both for medium and also large volumetric flows, especially when a leak-free seal is necessary in the closed state and the valve is to be used both with very low input pressures at the port 2 (roughly 1 bar) and also with high pressures (up to roughly 350 bar). 

1. A piloted valve, particularly a piloted proportional throttle valve, with a valve piston (29) which is guided to be able to move in a valve housing (13) with a fluid inlet (2) and a fluid outlet (1) in the longitudinal direction and which can be pressurized by the fluid pressure active on its back with its front (27) against a main valve seat (25), with a pilot valve device which has an actuating member (7) which can be moved in the longitudinal direction by means of an electrically triggerable magnet system (4) and which interacts with the pilot valve seat (33) in a bore (31) of the valve piston (29) which connects its back to the fluid outlet (1) on the front of the piston in order to reduce the fluid pressure on the back of the piston (29) for an opening motion when the pilot valve seat (33) is cleared, to build up the fluid pressure pressurizing the piston (29) against its closed position by supply of pilot fluid a flow baffle device (39) being present between the back of the piston and the fluid inlet (2) of the housing (13), characterized in that the flow baffle device (39) has a device (41, 45, 55, 56) for performing filtration, preferably gap filtration, of the pilot fluid.
 2. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the flow baffle device (39) is inserted into a pilot channel (41) which extends with the channel axis (43), which runs radially to the longitudinal axis (11) in the wall of the valve housing (13), between an inner channel mouth which is fluid-connected to the back of the valve piston (29) and an outer channel mouth which is connected to the fluid inlet (2).
 3. The valve according to claim 2, characterized in that the pilot channel (41) is formed by a circular channel bore in which the baffle device (39) is held in the form of a round insert body (45).
 4. The valve according to claim 3, characterized in that the insert body (45) has a plug section (47), which faces the inner channel mouth and which fits appropriately in the channel bore, and an outer section (49) which in contrast is reduced in diameter, and on which the baffle bore (35) and a gap filter device (55) are made.
 5. The valve according to claim 4, characterized in that in the plug section (47) there is a coaxial blind hole (51) which runs away from the inner channel mouth into the outer section (49), and that in the direction which is radial to the channel axis (43), the baffle bore (35) runs between the blind hole (51) and the outside of the outer section (49) of the insert body (45), which section has a reduced diameter.
 6. The valve according to claim 5, characterized in that the diameter of the outer section (49) of the insert body (45) is stepped such that a first region of length, into which the baffle bore (35) discharges, has a smaller diameter than the end-side region of length (53) which follows to the outside, whose diameter is chosen such that an annular gap (55) for gap filtration of the pilot fluid is formed with the wall of the pilot channel (41).
 7. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the bore (31) of the valve piston (29) has a guide section (32) which proceeds from the back of the piston and in which the actuating member (7), which has a valve cone (15) for interaction with the pilot valve seat (33), is guided, and that the valve piston (29) has a peripheral section (59) which is reduced in diameter and in which there is a passage for entry of the pilot fluid flowing through the baffle device (39) into the guide section (32) of the bore (31) of the valve piston (29).
 8. The valve according to claim 7, characterized in that the peripheral section (59) of the valve piston (29), which section has been reduced in diameter, with respect to axial length and axial position is made such that, in the axial positions of the valve piston (29) which are possible in operation, it is connected to the inner channel mouth of the pilot channel (41).
 9. The valve according to claim 8, characterized in that in the passage of the valve piston there is a second baffle bore (57) which is connected downstream of the baffle bore (35) in the insert body (45) of the baffle device (39).
 10. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the flow baffle device (39) is located in a pilot channel (41) which extends with the channel axis (43) which runs radially to the longitudinal axis (11) in the wall of the valve piston (29) from its inner bore (31) to a peripheral section (46) of the valve piston (29) which has been reduced in diameter, and that there is a device for filtration of the pilot fluid on the outer edge region of the peripheral section (46) which has been reduced in diameter.
 11. The valve according to claim 10, characterized in that the valve piston (29) in a peripheral region which extends between one edge of the peripheral section (46) which has been reduced in diameter, which edge is adjacent to the front (27), and a section (48) which is connected to the fluid inlet (2) in the closed position, has an outside diameter which is chosen such that an annular gap (56) for gap filtration of the pilot fluid is formed with the wall (44) of the valve housing (13).
 12. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the actuating element (7) is pressurized by means of an energy storage, preferably a spring arrangement (9), for movement which blocks the pilot valve seat (33) when the magnet system (4) is de-energized, and can be pulled back from the pilot valve seat (33) when the magnet system (4) is energized. 